I'm REALLY excited about finally getting my portfolio online so I decided to share it on here as well. Enjoy! :)
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Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
Final Anthropology 522 project
I think my “Knock Your Head Off Idea” changed pretty much constantly throughout this whole processes beginning from about day one. We started off working in a group, deciding that we were going to single in on professional basketball players and how they use social media like Twitter and Facebook to create a sort of brand image and how they continued to market themselves to not only fans, but to the league and other athletes.
After about the third time we attempted to meet up as a whole group and failed, we decided to split up the project into individual sections and each focus on an area of athletes and social media. For instance, we decided we needed a sort of history/background about how players used to market themselves without social media and then transition into the social media explosion and then end with a sort of etiquette “how to” for athletes on what they should and should not do while using this technology to promote their image.
That continued to be our focus until the end of the semester when the communication in our group started slacking and then really nobody knew what they were doing anymore. This is when we had one last final group meeting and decided to go with the overall theme of heroism and decided that everybody kind of just do their own play on the idea.
The way I took it, I think it’s very interesting the level we raised athletes to back when compared to how we relate to them now. In the past you know you had baseball cards and an anything autographed was something you cherished deeply. I just feel like with everything connecting us, especially with social media, that idol stature that we held athletes to is almost completely diminished now. Athletes like Shaquille O’Neal really reach out to his fans on a personal level now, there’s not that barrier of reachability. This doesn’t just end with athletes, it carries on into music and arts and just everything that we once held people above everyone else in. It’s amazing that with technology comes this ability to connect with just about anybody, anytime, anywhere. As I stand right now, I view this whole social media revolution as a positive thing. Of course, I still have my heroes and they’re still hoisted on a pedestal in my eyes, but they’re not invincible to me anymore. Contrary to what I used to believe, my heroes are still heroes, but they’re also human as well. Just like me.
sources
Articles
Athletes on Twitter
ATHLETE TWEETS by Ryan Corazza
Reporting from the Jock-o-Sphere: AthleteTweets.com is the next step for setting the scene on athletes who tweet
Heat ban use of Twitter from team locker room MIAMI (AP)
The NBA's social media explosion by Maria Burns Ortiz
NBA social media guidelines out by Marc Stein
Twitter giving athletes new way to connect with fans, for better or worse by Steve Politi/Star-Ledger Columnist
Why Twitter spells trouble for some pro athletes
by Rhonda Racha Penrice
Videos
5Across: Athletes on Social Media
Countdown Daily: Twitter
OTL: Twitter & Athletes
Shaq Meets With Twitter Fans
Monday, April 18, 2011
Script
Our group hasn't officially decided whether or not we want to do a video together or individually yet. Given the amount of time we have left for this class, I don't think we have anymore time to waste debating and this is my script for a video done by me alone.
Going along with the outline I created in my last post, I still want the overall theme to be "heroism." My section of the whole group video is how athletes are utilizing this media. So, I want to start my series out with a bunch of clips of heroes like Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, you know, athletes that were big before social media like Facebook and Twitter. I want to really put an emphasis on how we reacted to them emotionally and how their talents were what got them the big paychecks.
I want to then use screen recording techniques to help ask the question of how athletes are using their fame in a different way today. There are some positives and some negatives to this idea. I want to really show that athletes don't really even need to have amazing talent to be known or seen as a hero. Shaq, no doubt, has tremendous talent, however-he has created a more personal relationship to his fan base, therefore reducing his ranking as a hero, in my opinion. Other athletes like Ochocinco, who is also using social media and media in general, to really skyrocket his career and keep him in the spotlight-not by talent, but by entertainment. This is where I want to show maybe the downsides of having athletes freely using sites like Twitter. I would like to show different miscommunications coming from this media.
To end my section, I want to take a modern day hero-such as Lebron James or Kobe Bryant and show highlights and interviews as to how they are branding themselves without the help of social media. They may not have as big of celebrity status as say Shaquille O'Neal, but they certainly make money off of their talent still and maintain a sense of humbleness as they do. This, to me, is still heroism...even if it is hard to recognize.
Going along with the outline I created in my last post, I still want the overall theme to be "heroism." My section of the whole group video is how athletes are utilizing this media. So, I want to start my series out with a bunch of clips of heroes like Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, you know, athletes that were big before social media like Facebook and Twitter. I want to really put an emphasis on how we reacted to them emotionally and how their talents were what got them the big paychecks.
I want to then use screen recording techniques to help ask the question of how athletes are using their fame in a different way today. There are some positives and some negatives to this idea. I want to really show that athletes don't really even need to have amazing talent to be known or seen as a hero. Shaq, no doubt, has tremendous talent, however-he has created a more personal relationship to his fan base, therefore reducing his ranking as a hero, in my opinion. Other athletes like Ochocinco, who is also using social media and media in general, to really skyrocket his career and keep him in the spotlight-not by talent, but by entertainment. This is where I want to show maybe the downsides of having athletes freely using sites like Twitter. I would like to show different miscommunications coming from this media.
To end my section, I want to take a modern day hero-such as Lebron James or Kobe Bryant and show highlights and interviews as to how they are branding themselves without the help of social media. They may not have as big of celebrity status as say Shaquille O'Neal, but they certainly make money off of their talent still and maintain a sense of humbleness as they do. This, to me, is still heroism...even if it is hard to recognize.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Analytical Defense
I've been having trouble trying to figure out how to incorporate our project into the big scheme of projects, but I think we've gotten it narrowed down to a perspective that is a little more...thought provoking that our original ideas. First of all, instead of making one long video, we've split up into mini series that will all tie together for the final. The overall idea is Heroism of the athlete-beginning with the background history and how it's evolved in our current culture.
Aaron showed us this commercial that Lebron James did for Nike that really inspired this view of where we're taking our project.
This got me wondering what athletes like Michael Jordan are doing these days. I Googled him and found a really cool commercial he did-which then got me kind of thinking of another direction to take this.
Athletes like him didn't have a way to express themselves back in their day. They didn't have the media to connect with their fans-which made them unreachable in a sense. This could be how they developed their Hero status and media basically came in and destroyed it. That's a bold statement-but it would certainly make for a good argument.
Basically...what I would love to portray through this project is how media is so developed these days that we no longer have to fantasize about what our favorite athletes are thinking about after a basketball game...we can get on Twitter or Facebook and see what they PERSONALLY have to say. Now, the question that's being asked is...is this a good or bad thing? It's definitely a change...from Heroism to...Celebrity-ism basically. That's all athletes really are these days anyways, which is why we love it when scandals happen-we love to be in the know and we love to hear the latest gossip-we're human. It's just a little sad our one time idea of a hero is now just another celebrity grouped together with such scum as the cast of Jersey Shore and Paris Hilton.
Aaron showed us this commercial that Lebron James did for Nike that really inspired this view of where we're taking our project.
This got me wondering what athletes like Michael Jordan are doing these days. I Googled him and found a really cool commercial he did-which then got me kind of thinking of another direction to take this.
Athletes like him didn't have a way to express themselves back in their day. They didn't have the media to connect with their fans-which made them unreachable in a sense. This could be how they developed their Hero status and media basically came in and destroyed it. That's a bold statement-but it would certainly make for a good argument.
Basically...what I would love to portray through this project is how media is so developed these days that we no longer have to fantasize about what our favorite athletes are thinking about after a basketball game...we can get on Twitter or Facebook and see what they PERSONALLY have to say. Now, the question that's being asked is...is this a good or bad thing? It's definitely a change...from Heroism to...Celebrity-ism basically. That's all athletes really are these days anyways, which is why we love it when scandals happen-we love to be in the know and we love to hear the latest gossip-we're human. It's just a little sad our one time idea of a hero is now just another celebrity grouped together with such scum as the cast of Jersey Shore and Paris Hilton.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Anthropology 522 movie preview
Alright, so, I've put my video editing skills to the test and viola! My Mediated Cultures class at Kansas State University is making a video about social media and the world...pretty much. As a group, we're focusing on how athletes use social media to brand and promote themselves, at least that is my area. As a whole, our video will be about the image of athletes pre-social media and how the development of it has shifted their status from hero to just another person you follow on Twitter. Without further ado, here's my preview.
My vision for the final project is similar to what I mentioned before. We want to really show how athletes have lost that hero, almost idol, status. No longer are they unreachable or private. At least most of them aren't. To keep their name out there, many professional athletes today are joining the social network like Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. They use these sites for various reasons from staying connected to fans to promoting their endorsements. Either way, fans love it. They love knowing what their favorite athlete is doing right after a ball game or during off season.
So, from the beginning, we're showing athletes before social media and how they used endorsement deals and their talent to create their image. From there we move into how athletes are utilizing these sites to maintain their image--this is where it gets tricky. Athletes aren't always the smartest when it comes to having a filter on what they put on the internet. There are some that get into trouble by Tweeting during a football game or talking trash on other players. That's where our last half of the project comes in. The final piece will be about educating these athletes to use social media for their benefit. To promote them positively, but to also be real with their fans. After all...that's what social media is essentially, to keep us all connected.
My vision for the final project is similar to what I mentioned before. We want to really show how athletes have lost that hero, almost idol, status. No longer are they unreachable or private. At least most of them aren't. To keep their name out there, many professional athletes today are joining the social network like Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. They use these sites for various reasons from staying connected to fans to promoting their endorsements. Either way, fans love it. They love knowing what their favorite athlete is doing right after a ball game or during off season.
So, from the beginning, we're showing athletes before social media and how they used endorsement deals and their talent to create their image. From there we move into how athletes are utilizing these sites to maintain their image--this is where it gets tricky. Athletes aren't always the smartest when it comes to having a filter on what they put on the internet. There are some that get into trouble by Tweeting during a football game or talking trash on other players. That's where our last half of the project comes in. The final piece will be about educating these athletes to use social media for their benefit. To promote them positively, but to also be real with their fans. After all...that's what social media is essentially, to keep us all connected.
Monday, March 7, 2011
"To Tweet or Not to Tweet"
After discussing with my group about a few directions to take this project, I think we've narrowed it down to one. With more and more athletes using social media these days, we figured it'd be interesting to see how these players are utilizing these tools and how it's affecting their "brand" they developed for themselves.
I came across a really interesting video on ESPN.com ( http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4382952 ) the other day that just talked about the general usage of twitter by athletes. Most of them use Twitter to keep fans updated on personal issues while others use it to promote things that they are endorsing. In one case, Timberwolves' Kevin Love tweeted about their coach's plans to not return the next year a day before the team announced it. Obviously giving athletes this freedom can only result in one of 2 ways, negatively or positively. Allowing athletes to manage their own twitter account is a risky move, but it helps connect to the fans. From a marketing perspective I would suggest having somebody at least approve of anything they say before posting it. This would reduce the authenticity between athletes and their fans, but at least it would keep them from harming their image and that's basically what they bank on...not talent alone (i.e. Tiger Woods).
Either way, we can all agree that social media sites like Twitter aren't going anywhere and knowing how to utilize them can really take you far as an athlete. I feel like professionals that refuse to use these sights to keep their "personal life private" like the Manning brothers are going to come off snobbish to their fans. The athletes that embrace these sites and take the effort to reach out to their fans are really exceeding and getting the all of the publicity.
Another article I found ( http://www.hrsm.sc.edu/SEVT/PDFs/SEVT%202010%20Conference%20Proceedings.pdf#page=56 ) talks about how Digital Royalty, a digital integration and social media strategy organization, is embracing social media like Twitter and educating their clients on how to properly use these sites to "better embody and evolve their brand personalities."
Their clients include athletes like Shaquille O'Neal, whom they took under their wing when Twitter was just starting to gain popularity. Fans were getting frustrated with people creating fake accounts under Shaq's name, so Digital Royalty trained O'Neal how to update his Twitter from his phone and how to strategically "tweet" to his fans "directly and genuinely."
As Twitter continued to grow and gain members, celebrities began to follow in Shaq's footsteps and joined the craze as well. This led to Twitter developing a verification technique to establish authenticity for its "well-known" accounts (a.k.a. celebrities). This allowed fans to follow their favorite athletes with the ease of knowing it's really them and not just a fake account.
I came across a really interesting video on ESPN.com ( http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4382952 ) the other day that just talked about the general usage of twitter by athletes. Most of them use Twitter to keep fans updated on personal issues while others use it to promote things that they are endorsing. In one case, Timberwolves' Kevin Love tweeted about their coach's plans to not return the next year a day before the team announced it. Obviously giving athletes this freedom can only result in one of 2 ways, negatively or positively. Allowing athletes to manage their own twitter account is a risky move, but it helps connect to the fans. From a marketing perspective I would suggest having somebody at least approve of anything they say before posting it. This would reduce the authenticity between athletes and their fans, but at least it would keep them from harming their image and that's basically what they bank on...not talent alone (i.e. Tiger Woods).
Either way, we can all agree that social media sites like Twitter aren't going anywhere and knowing how to utilize them can really take you far as an athlete. I feel like professionals that refuse to use these sights to keep their "personal life private" like the Manning brothers are going to come off snobbish to their fans. The athletes that embrace these sites and take the effort to reach out to their fans are really exceeding and getting the all of the publicity.
Another article I found ( http://www.hrsm.sc.edu/SEVT/PDFs/SEVT%202010%20Conference%20Proceedings.pdf#page=56 ) talks about how Digital Royalty, a digital integration and social media strategy organization, is embracing social media like Twitter and educating their clients on how to properly use these sites to "better embody and evolve their brand personalities."
Their clients include athletes like Shaquille O'Neal, whom they took under their wing when Twitter was just starting to gain popularity. Fans were getting frustrated with people creating fake accounts under Shaq's name, so Digital Royalty trained O'Neal how to update his Twitter from his phone and how to strategically "tweet" to his fans "directly and genuinely."
As Twitter continued to grow and gain members, celebrities began to follow in Shaq's footsteps and joined the craze as well. This led to Twitter developing a verification technique to establish authenticity for its "well-known" accounts (a.k.a. celebrities). This allowed fans to follow their favorite athletes with the ease of knowing it's really them and not just a fake account.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
The New "Facebook" for Athletes
Here's a follow up article--more about our actual topic. It's introducing a new social media site created just for young athletes. It's different than, say, facebook.com in the sense that it's not just a way for athletes to portray themselves, it's also a hub for parents to organize carpools and get the latest equipment to buy their young athletes.
The thing that caught my attention in this article is when the author pointed out how the site would allow athletes to have more control on how their "image is being used commercially." I think that should be a top priority to any athlete and it would also allow them to sell advertising alongside any video/photos they upload to their page, instead of having a network like ESPN show their stuff for free.
I think the key term the author uses further into the article is "opportunities." This site would provide young athletes so many more opportunities to get their image out there and to become known in more ways than are available today with just networking.
This article is great for our topic because it's not just about Twitter and Facebook anymore, but now there's a site out there with the sole purpose of promoting athletes, which is long overdue in my opinion.
Article link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/technology/26caa.html
The thing that caught my attention in this article is when the author pointed out how the site would allow athletes to have more control on how their "image is being used commercially." I think that should be a top priority to any athlete and it would also allow them to sell advertising alongside any video/photos they upload to their page, instead of having a network like ESPN show their stuff for free.
I think the key term the author uses further into the article is "opportunities." This site would provide young athletes so many more opportunities to get their image out there and to become known in more ways than are available today with just networking.
This article is great for our topic because it's not just about Twitter and Facebook anymore, but now there's a site out there with the sole purpose of promoting athletes, which is long overdue in my opinion.
Article link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/technology/26caa.html
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